< begin rant >
If I’m expected to supply customer service in addition to support, chasing down my own copyright violations that no one else can seem to get a handle on or prevent, fixing bugs, creating my own live preview on my own server and packing it with content, writing documentation that accounts for every possible scenario, thumbnails, zip files, uploaders that don’t work, replying to “I demand you tell me how to customize the CSS of your theme when I could easily Google it myself” and “this don’t work”, “that don’t work” comments for a measly percentage of what the theme actually sells for, all while trying to actually produce a new theme and accomplish anything and be rated on customer service….
< / end rant >

Then ThemeForest needs to supply a support staff to each and every author so they can actually get something done.

I like #1… though I’d assume that’s one of the major things people are rating items for anyways.

2 – Probably important to some buyers… other buyers might not even know what code cleanliness looks like… they might do things one way… the Author might do it another… not sure on this one. Some buyers might not be even that good with code… so it all looks like a mess to them.

3 – I’m not sure about… I’d assume as designers/developers… documentation isn’t our strong suit and would hate to be scored on that.

Don’t like number #4 at all… though I’m sure lots of authors try to give good customer service… it’s not required nor is anyone getting paid for it (I don’t think)... I don’t want to feel obligated to provide service to every buyer with 20 questions just to keep my Customer Service star rating from becoming a blemish…

As long as feedback is required when ranking w/ the new star rating system… I’ll be happy… then we can at least understand lower rankings and improve upon them, if we can…

Was thinking about the item rating system, and I know there’s something new in the works. But what if there was a few points each item was rated on, each going from 1-5 stars—for example:

Ease of use

Code Cleanliness

Documentation

Customer Service

Thoughts?

I wouldn’t really have a problem with this in theory, except that 1-3 should really be “par for the course” here, not things that authors are commended on. That said, this isn’t a perfect world, and 1-3 are often not addressed well enough, so I guess I could get behind this.

It’s worth mentioning that some of these are quite vague and would require continual updating – for instance, a theme that would be classified as “incredibly easy to use” last year would be very different from this year, where jQuery admin panels are the status quo – the easiest theme a year ago wouldn’t even make the cut this year… so keep in mind that a lot of this is flexible as the bar is continually raised.

I think it is difficult to judge support. Some buyers have a bit of experience and are easy enough to help. Others require learning that is outside the scope of using a template and try/want to do things that are really customization and beyond their ability… even when provided a reasonable level of support.

Yes, while I agree with Kailoon that it is important, the amount certain buyers require is not always reasonable. To jeopardize anyone’s sales based on an unmeasurable benchmark of opinions and expectations is shaky.

I think the most important part for a buyer is support. even you have a decent documentation, users may still required some helps here and there.
So, I think ‘support’ deserved a different rating.

The buyer may “require” support, but Marketplace rules say it’s not required by us as Authors and therefore we shouldn’t be rated on something we’re not profiting from or required to do…

If you look through my item threads, my support is up there with the best of them… I aim to please and I’m happy to help out with problems or advice if I have the time… so I’m not afraid of getting low ratings… but some authors don’t have a lot of time for additional support… and some buyers are impatient or want to milk you for all $12 they paid for a template…

too many factors for me, doesn’t seem a customer service rating system would be fair to every author… imo

Was thinking about the item rating system, and I know there’s something new in the works. But what if there was a few points each item was rated on, each going from 1-5 stars—for example:

Ease of use

Code Cleanliness

Documentation

Customer Service

Thoughts?

-1 for all 4 points. My vote goes to the rating system as is now or not using ratings at all. No need to complicate it. The best picture buyer can get about the author and the file will always be reading comments under each item.

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<strong></strong> to make things bold
<em></em> to emphasize
<ul><li> or <ol><li> to make lists
<h3> or <h4> to make headings
<pre></pre> for code blocks
<code></code> for a few words of code
<a></a> for links
<img> to paste in an image (it'll need to be hosted somewhere else though)
<blockquote></blockquote> to quote somebody